Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,740 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,740 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DRI. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Darden Restaurants by 2.7% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 42,504 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,114 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Darden Restaurants by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 33,417 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,956,000 after purchasing an additional 6,232 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in Darden Restaurants by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 6,233 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Darden Restaurants in the second quarter worth $486,000. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Darden Restaurants by 62.4% during the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $763,000 after buying an additional 1,939 shares during the period. 93.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Darden Restaurants news, CFO Rajesh Vennam sold 7,228 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.71, for a total value of $1,313,399.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 10,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,864,708.02. This trade represents a 41.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DRI. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Darden Restaurants from $180.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Darden Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $190.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Darden Restaurants from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wedbush raised their price target on Darden Restaurants from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their price objective on Darden Restaurants from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.44.

Darden Restaurants Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DRI opened at $183.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Darden Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $135.87 and a 12-month high of $189.18. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.19.

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The restaurant operator reported $2.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.03. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Darden Restaurants had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 9.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Darden Restaurants, Inc. will post 9.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Darden Restaurants Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. Darden Restaurants’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.15%.

Darden Restaurants Company Profile

Darden Restaurants, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names.